GALVESTON, Texas – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded a task order contract in the amount of $267,807.37 to AECOM Technical Services for Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) survey data collection at 32 dredging placement areas at various locations along the Texas portion of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW).

Data gathered will be used in the development of a dredged material management plan for the GIWW High Island to Brazos River Project.

“This survey data will assist us in determining the current topography and dredge material capacity of each placement area, including semi-confined and open water placement areas,” said Dennis Thomas, a project manager with the USACE Galveston District. “This work will also help to ensure adequate placement area capacity exists for future dredging activities.”

According to Thomas, LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of, targets by illuminating the target with laser light and analyzing the backscattered light.

“As an added benefit, we will be able to track LIDAR data gathered at these placement areas using our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology and provide an estimate of available yardage for future dredging contracts,” said Rick Vera, USACE Galveston District civil engineer technician. “The addition of this layer of information in our GIS system will certainly aid us in improving efficiency in our business processes.”

Work is scheduled for completion in April 2013.

The USACE Galveston District was established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements. The district is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 270 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates.

To learn more about dredging along the Texas coast, view our four-minute video, http://bit.ly/KLZQBM. For more news and information, visit www.swg.usace.army.mil. Find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/GalvestonDistrict or follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/USACEgalveston.